Live Action Blogging

What's up world? I'm coming at you live from the back row of New World Stages, Theatre #1, aka my home from the past week. We're an hour and 15 min short of wrapping day #4 of tech. We added wardrobe and wigs today, and I must say, the show looks fantastic! Don't you want to come on down to NWS and rock out this week?!

Em and I went on a cleaning whirl this weekend. In under 3 hours, we had our living room, kitchen, bathroom, and my bedroom closet sparkling clean! Who knew. My room has been rocking the "I've been on tour" motif for about 6 months too long. Slowly but surely it's starting to take some sort of shape. It's about time, right? Not much else going on outside of that. It's been sleep, eat, breathe theatre, and naturally, I love all of that. We're currently teching "I Hate Myself for Loving You." It's amazing, sans doute.

PS Bernadette Peters signed the petition to get [title of show] on ELLEN. Have you?!

Teching

So, my rocking show fully moves into the theatre today as we enter what is lovingly known in the industry as "hell week." My next 6 days will consist of paperwork in the office during the day, then to the theatre until 1am for hours of "is this light too blue? Shouldn't he be holding a beer, not a mixed drink? Are the sounds on the 4th beat of every word of the intro sharp enough?" All decisions which I couldn't make if you held a gun to my head (unless one of the questions happens to be, "for the love of God, can't SOMEONE get a marketing code around here!"), but I am finding this process amazing. It's helping me very much to see the collabrative nature of this field, and is another reminder of why I do what I do and love it so much.

Moving on from my dorky techy blogging, I sent out an email begging everyone on the planet to sign the petition to get [tos] on Ellen (you know, this petition), and I'm amazed at the response. Way to go friends and family. Extra bonus points if you actually clicked on the link to my blog. Welcome.

I'm off to shower and drag myself to work. Much love from Astoria!

Look! I'm a Handyman! Wait, no I'm not!

What is it about being in a Home Depot that makes me think I could completely redesign my entire (rented) apartment? Seriously, I was in there today and thought, "You know. I could put a dimmer on my light switch." What?! No I can't! We have to bring Nick in to hang things in here, and I turn into a hateful person when putting Ikea furniture together. The last thing I need is to add electricity to the mix. SO I bought my "rope that could be used as horse reins or a lasso" that I needed for the video shoot today and got the heck out of there before I did something extreme like buy a new faucet for my kitchen sink just because it was pretty (this thought crossed my mind more times than I'd like to admit).

Random video shoot shopping aside, all's well on the ROA front. We head into tech on Thursday, so that is going to be too much work to finish in 5 days fun. This weekend I covered STOMP and finally had the mani/pedi that's been on my to-do list since June. My feet are happy.

Did you see the premiere of How I Met Your Mother? You need to watch this show. It's hilarious. Neil Patrick Harris alone is a reason to jump on board this train. And what else are you watching Monday night? Heroes? Please. So get to catching up on that.

Closing?

So I headed to the Lyceum last night with Em, Nick, and Nick's brother and mom. This show never ceases to amaze me in the way that people relate to it. Last night, they posted a blog entry on their wickedly funny blog (way funnier than mine!). Please take a few seconds to read it and keep posted for updates.

http://www.titleofshow.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1393

A Part of Dreading the Day They Post the Closing Notice

Just a note to say my beloved [title of show] posted their closing notice tonight. So, please, do yourselves a favor and get out to the Lyceum Theatre before October 12 and see the show before they close. You will love every second of those crazy kids.

sigh.

I Won, I Won!

Oh my gosh, y'all. I'm so tired. But I had to pause for a moment to say, I just ran 2.32 miles and I am now super tired with really sore legs, but that's my farthest run ever so I'm psyched.

Also, today, when I bought a Coke in the Coke machine, 2 Cokes came out. Thus proving that there is a God, and he loves me the best.

How Much is That Doggie in the Window? Will he mind that I won't be debt free until 2014?

What's up blogfans? Do you think of yourselves as blogfans? I'm glad you do. And I like that this is an interactive experience for all, for example, last week, I got this advice about my blog:

You should take your blog and turn it into a book. Then you should turn that book into a musical. Then you should take that musical and make it a movie. Then that movie should have Lauren Graham starring as you.

This came to me by way of a really smart relative of mine (thanks Sus!) who thinks Lauren Graham and I share the gift of speedy talking and quick witted humor. This is what I mean, people. The blog is about all of you creating ideas. Great ideas. About me.

Anyway, today was a fairly good day. Rock of Ages continued to provide us with good material in the office. Never a dull moment. After work, I headed down to Stomp where I'm filling in a bit this weekend. Why would I agree to take on CM duties at another show? Well, first of all, I love the Stomp people. Those are some good people. And second of all...who doesn't need the money?

This leads me to what I have just spent the last 2 hours doing. And that is trying to find a way to pull myself out of debt. With the aggressive new budget I just made for myself...it could happen by May 2010. Ugh! Who needs that?! But, it must happen. I'm glad that the first cc will be paid in full in January, followed by number two in August. Then it's just that stubborn Amex card that remains. Of course, after spending two hours sorting my expenses into categories on my bank's website so I could better create a reasonable/livable budget, I thought it would be funny to throw my grad school loans into my net worth calculator. Bad news folks. If you were planning to put a hit out on me and take all my worldly assets. I'm afraid you'd be left with Tivo, the Wii, my pretty blue Ikea dresser, my best friend - tv, and an oceanful of payments expected by the Brazos County Branch of US National Bank until August 2014.

Of course, it goes without saying that after 2014, I will totally be worth taking a hit out on.

Also noted in spinning through 12+ months of receipts. I've been to Starbucks in no fewer than 19 states, Canada, and 5 cities in England. Is that a problem? Or just an addicition? In any case, that's a lot of lattes (latta lattes?)

Alright, it's beyond past my bedtime, and I have a big day tomorrow. 30 minute run (well, 20 min walk/10 min run), then I'm catching up with my super successful grad school classmates (a lot of the reason the debt is worth it!) Sleep well out there everyone. Get to casting my romantic lead in the movie. Reference the entry below for the description. :)

PS Forgot to add a super shout-out to my [tos]sers who conquered all sorts of vampires and rocked it out at Broadway on Broadway this past Sunday. It was well worth sweltering in the middle of 7th Avenue to hear my cute show fully orchestrated. Have I mentioned I love those guys?

Why isn't this MY reality tv?

Okay, I know that tv isn't real, but seriously, where is this man in my life? Can we discuss? I mean, I may have just watched four back-to-back episodes of The Office, every one in which I said outloud at least one, "Ahhh, I love him!!" Who's with me here?

In other, more realistic news (yawn), today I saw the Act 1 run through of ROCK OF AGES, and I can't lie, I loved it. It's gonna be a fun show people, have you bought your tickets yet? Starting Oct. 1, I'm always up for pre-show margaritas...

Also, I made a friend connection happen for my cousin Susan and my former co-worker Mary in Chicago. Sus lives just around the corner from the Briar Street Theatre, where Mary is serving as Business Manager for Blue Man Group-Chicago. I'm happy they are meeting, but so wish I could be there!! My social life of late has been reduced to hermitude. It is a choice I have concisously made, and I can't lie, I love it. I know that in three weeks, I head back to the late-night theatre world I've grown so accustomed to, but I have to say for now, I'm glad to have my evenings to myself. Have you been keeping an eye on the Nike meter on the right side of my page?! I've been keeping up with my running program, and although my farthest distance is only 2.15 miles, I'm feeling pretty good just getting out there and doing SOMETHING every night. It helps me unwind from the day, and I think I sleep better too. All good things.

I'm off to do some more organizing of my room. I mean, I've lived here over a year and nothing has really happened. Next year when I'm faced with living on my own, I'm very excited, but I'm also very nervous about putting everything together. Anyone have any ideas? Mostly, I'm planning on counting on my two interior designer cousins (that means you Sus and Maura). They both have amazing senses of style and I can't wait to see what they do to the place. :) Night all.

Have you Ever Thought About...

Readers. Have you ever thought about how many people it takes to make a musical? Oh. My. Lord. Today I was at a production meeting, and the following were in attendance:

• Director/Assistant Director
• Choreographer/Assistant Choreographer
• Production Stage Manager/Stage Manager/Production Assistant
• Scenic Designer/Assistant Scenic Designer
• Lighting Designer/Assistant Lighting Designer
• Props Master
• Wardrobe Assistant
• Assistant Sound Designer
  
• Production Manager/Assistant Production Manager
• Video Projectionist Designer
• Music Contractor/Orchestrator/Director
• General Manager (2)/Company Manager/Assistant Company Manager/Management Intern
• and finally two producers

Y'all, that's a lot of people. That's not taking in count the 17 actors that were on lunch break during our meeting or the people that were assembling the deck at New World Stages while we were in our meeting or my box office staff that were frantically processing codes for me. Tomorrow we meet with no fewer than 3 marketing firms, a press agent, a pr person, more producers and any other random people that I've missed off this list.

I can't even say how amazed I am at all that goes into getting a show to its opening night. I know, I know, I've been part of plenty show openings and what have you, but as I've mentioned before, this is the first time I've seen all of this "production" craziness, and it completely blows my mind. But as it's blowing my mind, its also sending chills up my spine. Every single one of those people will work their tails off come hell or high water to make the best production possible be on that stage come October 16, and they will fight for what they need to make that happen. Who says theatre is dead? It's an incredible thing to be in a room full of people so passionate about their jobs. I'm loving every crazy, ridiculous second of it.

In news outside my job (yes, I have a life). Wii Fit admonished my sister for telling it that she didn't think I looked in any better shape this week. It was amazing. That's news right? I'm not a total loser, am I? Whatever, I love that Wii Fit. TiVo is adjusting well to the newest addition. Also, I keep them in separate rooms, so that helps. Can you tell I've cut back on the social agenda lately? It seems that my bank account finally figured out that I spent many weeks this summer unemployed. It's finally recovering, but gave me quite a scare towards the end of August. Ugh. Can't I just win the lottery already? At least the health insurance lottery? Anyone? No one?

Last thought before I head to bed, I love the new iTunes. I love that Apple keeps making me want to upgrade my iPod even though I have absolutely NO reason to do it. I love that if I want to find twenty-five songs on my iPod that sound like Miley Cyrus' "7 Things" that I can do it, and my iPod won't judge me like all my friends do. Life is good. I'm out. Good night.

Oh - and Happy Birthday shout-outs to my cousin Mary, my college roommate Erica (who both turned 30 on Tuesday), my Pajama Gaming touring Thomas and my sole remaining swim team friend Eric. The first week of September is huge for me birthday wise! I hope all of you celebrated fully and will be blessed with the best year yet!

I've got a headache T-H-I-S big...

I know there are people out there that don't suffer from headaches, and for those of you, just know that I hate you all a little bit.

I got knocked OUT today by the worst headache I've had in quite sometime. Like, can't sit up, turn on lights, listen to any sound headache. Completely incapacitating. Thankfully, we also had torrential downpour here in NYC (thanks Hurricane Hanna), so at least I had a peaceful background to my misery.

Thankfully, it finally seems to be subsiding, and has allowed me to turn on the tv at least. I'm currently watching a show on The Food Network about kitchen gadgets of the future. It's like my tv knew I was feeling awful and put my favorite kind of tv show on just for me. Lord knows I don't cook, but I'm sure those that know me well know that if it's gadget-y, I want it. Right now, they're showing me an oven that you just push a button, put your meat/fish/pizza in, and hit go. It autmatically adjusts temperature and time for you. I love it.

Work is going really well. The show went into rehearsals on Tuesday and is actually pretty funny. Sitting in on production meetings and read-throughs are still pretty new to me, so I'm really enjoying watching just how much freakin' work it is to put a show up. We even have a team just for internet marketing (I don't think they ever sleep!). All in all, I'm very happy to be back in production mode. We start moving the set into the theatre on Tuesday. Whoooo!

Ok, I feel like I'm pressing my luck on the headache front, so I'm going to end it here. Good night from rainy, headachy Astoria.

Sad the Summer is Over

Hope y'all had a happy Labor Day Weekend! I sure did! I headed back to beautiful, relaxing Sag Harbor thanks to my pal Gail (holla!) It was a wonderful way to wind up Summer '08. My sister was able to ditch the city as well and come out East for some poolside time, so that was fun!

Things I learned:

• I don't make enough money to even look at houses in the Hamptons.
• I want these Coach sunglasses (in burgandy)! But I didn't buy them, because I have to pay rent.
• Along those lines, being responsible is overrated.
• There are a lot of good places to sit and watch college football in East Hampton on a Saturday.
• There is no limit to how many fried shrimp I will eat.
• If given the opportunity, I can spend 3 days straight in my swimsuit cover-up.
• Fancy drinks taste fancier the farther east you travel! In Montauk, they even put cucumbers in the water. Amazing!
  

In other news. our Rock of Ages Meet and Greet is tomorrow morning! I love meet and greets! It's so fun to look around the room and see so many different types of people all working to get the show up. Cool. Last week, I walked through Stage 1 at New World with Jason, our SM, our Asst PM, and two of the NWS ops people for my first sightline conversation. It never ceases to amaze me how many things need to be thought about before opening! Of course we have to cut those three seats in the balcony, otherwise, someone will be sharing their lap with our spot op.

Ok, I'm off to bed now I think. Big day tomorrow, as our Rader Family Fantasy Football draft is in the morning. I love football season!